Heisman stakes. American Conference championship stakes. College Football Playoff stakes.
There was no shortage of stakes on the line Saturday morning when the Navy Midshipmen made the long trek to Denton, TX for the first time since a record-breaking 74-62 matchup 18 years ago. On this occasion, Navy entered with an unblemished record against one of the college football’s ultimate breakout teams — the North Texas Mean Green.
While Navy is renowned for its FBS-leading rushing attack, it was an individual ground performance from the North Texas side which stole the show in front of an electric DATCU Stadium crowd. True freshman tailback Caleb Hawkins generated a career-high 197 yards and all four Mean Green touchdowns to lead his team to a 31-17 victory, unseating Navy from its undefeated status.
“Probably the most complete game we’ve played since I’ve been the head coach here,” North Texas head coach Eric Morris said. “That was a team win. Everybody stepped up in huge ways down the stretch. For our guys we started fast, they were able to gain momentum, but the fourth quarter was as good of football as I’ve seen our team play.”
North Texas drew headlines last Friday when star redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker fired for 608 yards and four touchdowns in a dominant road win over Charlotte. While Mestemaker still shined with a 19-of-24 showing and 234 yards, the Mean Green spearheaded their FBS-best scoring offense in a different manner vs. Navy — through a heavy dose of Hawkins.
“We pride ourselves in taking what the defense gives us,” Morris said on the offensive strategy shift. “We thought they’d try to pressure when we tempo’d, and we had some tempo runs that we liked that we were able to pop a gap there early. The offensive line was geared up. They practiced better than they…
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